Berkeley Lab and its Nobel Prize-winning Director Steve Chu were featured on the Public Broadcasting System's Lehrer NewsHour national report on Wednesday, in a 10-minute segment focusing on alternative energy technologies. As part of a series on climate change, the NewsHour profiled Chu's search for solutions to fuel problems. The report also referenced the work of Physical Biosciences Division Director Jay Keasling. Correspondent Spencer Michaels and production crew visited the Lab on April 5 and filmed Chu at the Molecular Foundry. Go here to access audio and video streams of the report.

The U.S. Senate may vote later this month on an energy bill that would by 2020 require that 15 percent of U.S. electricity be produced by renewable sources such as wind and solar. The same bill would require 10 percent of federal power purchases to be produced by "green" methods by 2010. The Senate Energy Committee on Wednesday sent to the full chamber a bill that also targets demand for gasoline -- the biggest chunk of U.S. petroleum use -- by increasing fuel economy and boosting production of nonpetroleum fuels like ethanol. Full story.

The old adage “use it or lose it” is now truer than ever. People who maintain a vigorously active lifestyle as they age gain less weight than people who exercise at more moderate levels, according to a first-of-its-kind study that tracked a large group of runners who kept the same exercise regimen as they grew older. The study, led by Berkeley Lab life scientist Paul Williams, also found that maintaining exercise with age is particularly effective in preventing extreme weight gain, which is associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other diseases. Full story.

Associate Lab Director and Materials Sciences Division Director Paul Alivisatos delivers the second of three free lectures on Helios — the Lab's initiative for developing alternative energy sources — on Monday, May 14. The talk takes place at the Berkeley Repertory Theater at 5:30 p.m. The third installment takes place June 4, with a talk by Physical Biosciences Division Director Jay Keasling on "Renewable Energy from Synthetic Biology," same time and location. The series is sponsored by the Lab's Friends of Science.

Electronic supplies, such as resistors and capacitors, will be available via eBuy from Pacific Supply & Safety/ Newark-In-One starting on Tuesday, replacing the current Newark Electronics business-to-business (B2B) systems contract. Over 2 million line items will be available from the supplier’s catalog. Users are urged to shift their Newark B2B purchases to eBuy as soon as possible, as B2B will no longer be available from Newark after May 25. Make purchases via the eBuy website, BLIS (under Lifeline Applications), or the Procurement homepage using Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari browsers. LDAP log-on and a valid project ID number are required. Since the system's introduction last year, Lab staff have place over 9,000 orders on eBuy.

Visits to the Lab by the Iron Age Shoemobile are discontinued, effectively immediately. Safety shoes may be purchased from the Red Wing Shoemobile, which is located in the B51 parking lot on the third Thursday of each month. Go here for more information on safety shoes.